OVERDUE
Also, I have no sense of scale when it comes to running speeds :P I imagine being a magical girl would help Tomoko at least a fair amount though.
The green haired girl wasn't part of any athletic club, nor had she really played any sport. What she did run on, however, was competition and pure reckless energy.
Trailing just a little bit behind Saiko, the strange girl grabbed the pole and shoved herself off it in the athlete's direction, drawing upon every ounce of willpower to close and pass the gap.
Saiko looked and found that the new girl had actually beaten her to the finish line. Saiko's eyes lit up. Surprising speed, good enough to join her athletic club.
She grabbed the girl's hands with her own and pleaded, "You, whoever you are, do you want to join Kiyasuma high school's football team? You'd make a great runningback."
Saiko recalled her time with the hobo. She hadn't realized it before but the two girls she met back then and just now were one and the same. "Oh, I see, then you-"
After her mind whirred a bit more, she realized that this girl was interested in magical girls too. Or at least knew about them.
"Wait, how do you know about that? And how are you related to this whole thing I'm in right now?"
"Of course she'd be thankful for my help," Hiroko replied, her voice retaining a dismal tone. She didn't even move from he kneeling position. "If I'd saved her. But I didn't. And now... she's dead..."
edited 10th Apr '11 10:07:24 AM by AnnoR
"Oh, dear. The toad, the monkey, and the dog have all screwed up.""I was told by a cabbit. As for how I'm involved, well, you'll probably find this out sooner rather than later anyway, so..."
Tomoko held up her right hand, a green jeweled ring adorning her middle finger. With a small flash of light, the ring disappeared, and held in her palm was a light green egg.
"I've already signed this team's contract."
Saiko stared at the green gem. It really was similar to the one the other girls had shown her.
"Well if you're here to recruit me, I'm still thinking about it. Not much point in talking further. Like you heard I should be going to do my homework so unless you have any other busniess with me, I gotta go. You want my cell number?"
After an excruciatingly long moment of silence, Chiyo shook her head. "No… you didn't do anything wrong, Suoh. You were the one who did exactly what you should have. You were the one who killed that- that thing." Anger crept into her voice alongside the grief.
"But me? What did I do? I- I just sat back and watched them fight. I thought they could win. I thought there wasn't any point in helping." She felt a tear rolling down her cheek.
"I'm the one who should be saying sorry…"
edited 10th Apr '11 6:30:29 PM by Gilphon
~Tsukasa Suoh~ Suoh, not exactly being the hugging type, decided to stare and stammer a bit before he said anything coherent. "It wasn't me, it was Hiroko. And you helped too. I guess we still need to understand just what it is we're doing... Uh! Please don't cry! Crying isn't necessary!"
~Natsuko Hikari~ "Hiroko! It will be okay! I promise!" She wasn't sure who she was trying to console.
"Technically, since I told you not to help, if there's a responsible party, it is me," Yuina told Chiyo. "However, what Yuriko suffered was not due to the actions of any of us. It's simply the hazard that comes with being a magical girl. Who knows if action on your part would have saved her? She may have died regardless. You may have been the one who died. It's pointless to speculate about such useless things. It will only distract you from continuing to seek your goal. I presume you still have one, or else you'd have allowed yourself to die by now."
She wasn't sure how good a job she was doing in comforting Chiyo, but all of it was technically true, at least. Perhaps I can help Hikari with this after all.
edited 10th Apr '11 6:39:48 PM by Zudak
Chiyo shook her head again, and wiped away at her tears. Then she stood quivering for a moment, and straightened up, trying to put on a brave face.
"You're right. You're both right. I… knew this might happen when I made my wish. I can't turn away from this now. I can only do my best from stopping this from happening again."
I've learned my lesson now, she thought. The witches the things that must be killed, no more and no less. And if we fail to kill them, we d- We die. I won't think of them as anything else ever again. I'll make worlds far better than anything they make, so there'll be no reason to think of them as anything else.

Yuina gave Hikari a quick hug — gingerly, as if she was made of glass, being very careful not to allow any direct contact betweeen her skin and Hikari's.
The gesture seemed oddly emotionless — it was quick and mechanical, and Yuina's body was skinny and cold. It wasn't very comforting. But Hikari thought she could sense genuine emotion behind it, beyond just the rational motivation of maintaining Hikari's emotional state.